Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- Commercial real-time system design -- Studying present procedures -- Determining system performance requirements -- Specifying the central processing unit(s) -- File requirements of the system -- Specification of terminal, line, and control unit requirements -- Simulation -- Completing the system study -- Installing a real-time system. Three conclusions contributed to the writing of this book: 1) there is a great interest in commercial real-time systems; they are the systems of the future. 2) There is a need for a definitive work on the analysis required in the design of commercial real-time systems. 3) Little of the available information discusses the "why" of system design.